How to Buy and Manage Your First Rental Property.

There are so many reasons to buy your first rental property and I sincerely hope that you start out on your own real estate investing journey.

If you are looking for practical tips on how to get started or – if you would like some motivation to take the plunge and buy your first property, visit me today. 

I write a Rental Property Blog for newbies that is filled with tips and tricks for the novice landlord.

OR

If you just really want to get started and go out and buy and manage your first rental property, check out my eBook on Amazon.   It is a step-by-step guide for beginners that brings all of the information you will need to one place.

I wish you great success!

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

Rental Property Forms will be the backbone of your real estate empire.  You need great, customized forms to protect you – and your tenants – from those unexpected things that come up in life.

Experienced landlords continue to customize, edit and amend these forms over time to make an ironclad document that will respond to any eventuality.  It is the years of experience as a landlord that show you what is most important to have in these documents and I am happy to share my Rental Property Forms that I use in my own business.

You can view and purchase individual forms here.  I try to provide great value by offering a quality, detailed Rental Property Form for a low price.  If you’d like to link to a blog post that talks about each of the forms in more detail, it is here at “Essential Rental Property Forms“.

These forms will help you enormously to get started on your own rental property journey.

I wish you great success!

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

P.S. – If you are thinking about buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin, check out my eBook on Amazon.   It is a step-by-step guide for beginners that brings all of the information you will
need to one place.

There’s always something holding us back from achieving our dreams in real estate.  It’s a big step to take and I would say these are the fears that I hear the most from investors that are just about to get started.

I wrote a blog post to go along with this list called “Are You Scared To Buy Your First Rental Property?”  I hope it will help put your fears to rest and get you started on your real estate investing journey. 

If you are thinking about buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin, check out my eBook on Amazon.   It is a step-by-step guide for beginners that brings all of the information you will
need to one place.

I wish you great success!

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

These are all of my best tips to keep in mind as you buy your first rental property and become a new landlord.  I find this picture a bit fuzzy for some reason so here’s a link to the Infographic as well.

Are you interested in buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin?  Check out my eBook on Amazon which brings all the information you will
need to one place.

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

So, you want to become a new landlord? Haven’t you
heard the horror stories? 3:00 a.m. calls for a plugged toilet, tenants that
don’t pay their rent, nasty evictions…it’s a minefield out there.

But maybe you’ve heard the upside too. That owning a
rental property substantially increases your wealth because you have a solid
asset that someone else is paying off for you.

So how can
you – a would-be new landlord – avoid the pitfalls and reap the rewards?

How can you dodge the disasters and turn this into a
profitable, hassle-free venture? The key is to start out on the right foot.
Putting everything in place and being prepared will ensure that your experience
as a new landlord is a positive one. Sure, there might be bumps along the way,
but if you’re prepared, you’ll meet these challenges head on and overcome them.

The best way to prepare is to learn from experienced
landlords that have come before you. I think these tips will be very helpful to
someone that is just starting out in the rental property business and I’ll
break them down here for you in more detail. (You can also link to the full
post on each if you would like to learn more).

The Top Ten
Best Tips For New Landlords

1. Follow Your Entire Screening Process.  I didn’t put the tips in any particular order because I think they are all crucial steps for a new landlord to take – but if pressed, this is #1. My best advice is don’t EVER take what a prospective tenant tells you at face value and hand them the keys. Be rigorous. Do all of your employment, reference and credit checks EVERY time on EVERY tenant.
2. Establish Great Tenant Relationships. This is a very important step for new landlords because good tenants = a successful rental property business. Having good tenants, after all, prevents the aforementioned “horror stories”. Establishing these relationships starts before you even meet your prospective tenants through advertising and screening and then carries on through the duration of their tenancy.
3. Run It Like A Business.  Owning a rental property is a business and an organized landlord with systems and processes in place is much more likely to succeed than someone who is just “winging it”. Some examples of these systems would include your forms, your ads, your property information binders as well as filing and accounting systems.
4. Use Customized Forms.  When you’re just getting started with a rental property, it’s important to have your forms ready to go. These would include things like an Accommodation Inspection Report, Lease Agreement and Rental Application Form. Many new landlords use
       generic forms that they find online thinking that one form is as good as
       the next and often times they don’t even understand everything that is
       written there. These are huge mistakes which will come to light when a
       lease needs to be enforced. Use customized forms to lay down your rules and regulations from the outset.
5. Make Security A Priority.  Most new landlords think that the cost of rent is the most important factor for tenants when they are looking for a rental. In actual fact it is security for themselves and their families that is a top priority. Many tenants are actually willing to pay a little more if there is great security in place when they rent and they know it will be ongoing.
6. Make It Easy For Your Tenants.  When it comes to “who should do what” between tenants and landlords, conflict often arises unless it is clear from the start. The easier you make it for your tenants, the easier it will be for both of you in the long run. Putting a reference binder in each property, installing keyless locks and making the yard low maintenance are just a few ideas to keep things running smoothly and hassle free.
7. Use Your Head Not Your Heart.  I would venture to say that this might be the hardest obstacle for anyone getting started with a rental property. As a new landlord, you’ll eventually hear a story or promise from your tenants, especially when it comes to late rent payments. Unfortunately, you’ll also figure out that most stories and promises aren’t true. To keep more money in your own pocket, it’s important to separate emotion from business and know your local eviction processes before you have to implement them.
8. Prepare For Bumps In The Road.  Let’s face it, it won’t ALWAYS be smooth sailing, even if you do follow all of these tips. Even with all of your systems in place, challenges will still come along. It’s how you handle these challenges that will determine your success.
9. Save For A Rainy Day.  Rental properties cost money for repairs, maintenance and vacancies. If you don’t have a way to cover these expenses as they arise, your properties will deteriorate and so will your grade of tenant. It’s a slippery slope so it’s always best to expect expenses and plan for them ahead of time.
10. Keep On Learning.  You’re doing a great job of investigating before you become a new landlord. It’s how you ended up here! As your rental property business continues to grow and evolve, so should your
        education. Keep informed through blogs and online forums for landlords. They are a valuable resource and you will eventually have a lot to
        contribute as well. Soon YOU will be teaching new landlords how to begin!

Becoming a new landlord might seem like a huge
learning curve and in the beginning it really is.

Use my Infographic – “The Top Ten Best Tips For New
Landlords” – to help you keep all of these points in mind as you start out.

I sincerely hope you find it helpful and I wish you
all the best with your rental property empire!

To your success!

Are you interested in buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin?  Check out my eBook on Amazon which brings all the information you will
need to one place.

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

When you’re just getting started as a new landlord and
buying your first rental property, the learning curve is very high.  There
is an enormous amount of information to find, read and gather before you take the
plunge.  Some examples include doing a Property Analysis before buying,
all aspects of managing your rental and how to deal with problems as they
arise.

Finding The
Information You Need To Succeed

All of the information you could ever need is available
online but it’s time consuming to sift through it all to find the useful
articles and true expert landlords that can help you along the way.   It
took me many years to find everything I needed and create a system for myself
to keep my rental property business running smoothly. 

What starts out as a difficult task though, soon
becomes a joy as your confidence grows, your rental business grows, and you see
a significant increase in your net worth.  Eventually you will know more
about buying and managing rental properties than you ever dreamed
possible. 

But Never
Let Up…

You might think at that point you’ll sit back and
relax and let things take care of themselves for a while but that hasn’t been
my experience at all.  Even after many years of being a landlord and
managing my rental properties, I still visit rental sites and blogs regularly
both to find information and opinions or offer my own.  I remember exactly
what it was like when I was just starting out and all of the fear and
uncertainty that I experienced.  Now I use that to help and encourage new
landlords that are just getting started, just as it was done for me in the
past.

My best advice to everyone reading is to always keep
learning.  If you’re at the beginning of a new venture, it doesn’t have to
be daunting.  Buy one book, take one course, visit one blog…eventually it
will start to feed on itself and then watch out!  You’ll be unstoppable.

To your success!

Are you interested in buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin?  Check out my eBook on Amazon which brings all the information you will
need to one place.

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com

Rental properties come with expenses. Some are big,
some are small, some are expected and some come as a big surprise. There is
always something that comes up though, so landlords need to be prepared.

Here are
some of the more common expenses that a landlord can expect with their rental
properties: 

• Appliance repair or replacement
• Carpets, painting and floors
• Tenant gifts, tenant baskets
• Yard maintenance
• Major repairs like the roof
• Garage doors
• Furnace or air conditioning
• Extra mortgage payments if there are no tenants
      in the property

So, why is
it so important to repair and maintain your properties?

First, your tenants are helping to pay off your
investment and they deserve to live in a property that is safe, secure and has
everything in good working order. Second, a good landlord that responds
promptly to requests for maintenance will be much more successful in building
long term tenant relationships which are the cornerstone of a good rental
property business. Third, looking after your properties will also add value to
your investment as your property values continue to rise with these improvements,
repairs and maintenance.

If you’re like most people, you likely don’t have a
lot of extra cash on hand every month but that should never stop you from
looking after your investment. Ignoring problems can and will lead to run down
properties and a lower grade of tenant.

There are
two key ways to overcome the problem of unexpected expenses. 

The first is to try and build a reserve fund from your
monthly rents. If you have any surplus after your bills are paid each month,
put this aside to cover these expenses. The second is to have access to credit.
Putting a line of credit in place for rental property expenses will give you
piece of mind that you can handle the unexpected.

For new landlords, there are always fears and
uncertainties when buying that first property. Anything that can be put in
place to ease those fears is a good thing and will be so helpful in moving the
dream into a reality.

To your success!

Are you interested in buying and managing your first
rental property but don’t know where to begin?  Check out my eBook on Amazon
which brings all the information you will need to one place.

Shannon Pineau

myrentalpropertycoach.com